Gooding, David: 5 - Analysis of Luke

In our study of the Gospel of Luke so far, we have spent a great deal of time paying attention to the detail of chapters seven and eight. We have done that in part to demonstrate to ourselves the way that Luke has constructed and presented the good news of Jesus Christ. We have noticed that the selection of his material is not just haphazard. It would never have been that because he was inspired and led by the Holy Spirit in the composition of his gospel. More than that, he has not just recorded things simply because they happened, but has chosen incidents and narratives and parts of teaching so that he might present a balanced view of the great salvation that Christ has provided for us. So we saw, for instance, that the story of the woman in Simon's house balanced the story of the centurion and his son. That latter story taught that salvation is not by works, merit, or worth, but by faith it is a gift of God. The story of the woman, by contrast, says that when forgiveness has been received by faith and through grace, it will lead to affection for Christ and positive hard works. Similarly, we found that the two stories, the woman in Simon's house and the woman with the he- hemorrhage, have many striking details in common, the one with the other. But when we fa- found- find two stories that have much in common, then the next and more important step is to do a little differential diagnosis and to note how they differ. And doing that with these two stories, we found it helpful to sharpen our interpretation of each of them. Though similar in detail, they are not presenting the same message. We saw how important it was to distinguish, for instance, that in the story of the woman in Simon's house, our Lord knew what kind of woman it was that touched him. The issue was that he knew her moral quality. That is the thing that had been challenged by Simon's unspoken question. Whereas in the quest- in the story of the woman with the hemorrhage, it wasn't that our Lord knew what kind of woman she was, that is the issue of the story. It is the fact that he knew that somebody had touched him, and that was the important issue. None can come to Christ and touch him to gain salvation of any kind without Christ knowing about it. And what is more, our Lord obliged that dear lady to come full to his face and confess before all why and what, what and why she had done, and thus insisted on a personal relationship between her and him. And I remind you of those things to make now a general point before we proceed, that looking for this kind of structure and symmetry in the gospel is not a question of playing crossword puzzles with the word of God. Structures do not exist for their own sake. They result from the deep principles of thought that is in the mind of the author, and because he wishes to put a balanced view of a matter, he will take two stories or two incidents or two parts of teaching and put them together in his structure so that presently his perceptive and attentive readers, uh, realize that they are getting a very balanced account of things. And when we do that, sitting at the feet of a master like Luke, we ourselves shall be better teachers and better preachers and better Sunday school leaders, as we too shall seek to see that those who listen to us eventually get a balanced diet and that we do not emphasize one thing at the expense of another. But having, uh, spent some time on those two stories that are but one section of Luke's book, I must now turn to a much more, uh, uh, survey type of study for this, at least for this ne- next lecture or two. So, in the study of any book of scripture, so in a gospel, it is a very helpful thing to begin by making a table of contents and familiarizing ourselves with the book as a whole. That save us from being unable to see the wood, as they say, for the trees. If we concentrate immediately on a little detail, that is good. All God's word is good, and if on the only verse in the Bible you know is John three sixteen, it's true anyway. Preach it as well as believe it, and when you've preached it, if you don't know what's in verse seventeen, we'll find out soon, but never mind, John three sixteen is true anyway if you preach it. But if we would get the whole counsel of God, it is a good thing, as I say, to make a table of contents of a book so that you can see the book as a whole. And seeing it as a whole, you will know how to fit in the d- the e- the individual parts and what they contribute to the whole. So I start off with borrowing someone else's, uh, analysis. It is the analysis of table of contents given us by that learned scholar and gracious Christian gentleman that is Leon Morris of Australia, and there, if he will forgive me and not prosecute me for breaking copyright, there is the beginning of his analysis of the, uh, gospel by Luke, and you needn't read it all. Of course, uh, you may not be able to from where you sit, but you will see that it, uh, uh, is detailing in very great detail the, uh, contents of the gospel. Now notice, uh, scholars are not normally content just to list the individual contents of a book. Uh, they fall soon to grouping the context, the contents in various groups, and that is a highly sensible thing to do, is it not? Because it enables us to comprehend the book more easily and to determine what are its major blocks of teaching or narrative or so forth. So here he lists, uh, chapter one, one to four as the preface, and then the infancy narratives with him form one block, and they go from one five to two fifty two. Then you'll see he makes a completely separate, uh, group of John the Baptist's ministry, and that is very interesting that the learned scholar should do that, for those are only twenty verses, but he so, uh, puts them in a group, and very sensibly too, because when Luke in his book tells us about the ministry of John the Baptist, as he does here in chapter three in the first twenty verses, he doesn't stop to tell you that John baptized the Lord Jesus. He takes John and his ministry and what he preached and what he said to the crowd and how eventually Herod didn't like him and put him in prison. And he takes the whole story right through to John's imprisonment without stopping to tell you that it was John that baptized the Lord Jesus. In fact, Luke doesn't tell you here in this part of his gospel that John baptized the Lord, and that perhaps is a significant thing, uh, you'll see. So Leon Morris rightly groups that, uh, as a special subsection of the book. Then he has the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and uh, then makes a, uh, a different group, a very large group, but a different group from the beginning of our Lord's ministry to his ministry in Galilee. Notice that large group that Leon Morris, uh, suggests will all stand together. It goes from chapter four verse one right as far as nine verse fifty. It's a very large group. You needn't bother about the detail at this juncture, if you will notice now the next group that Leon discerns in the gospel. And that is not Jesus in Galilee anymore, but the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. And that is likewise a very large group of incidents and teaching. It is presently, was we shall see, is a peculiar arrangement to Luke. None of the other gospel writers have it quite like that. It's a long journey begun in chapter nine and verse fifty two with the words, and eh eh eh when the days, to get the exact uh uh message, uh nine fifty two, nine fifty two, fifty one. and it came to pass when the days were well nigh come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. So the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, Leon puts in the special group by itself. And then finally he comes to the end of the gospel, and he entitles it, uh, Jesus in Jerusalem, the teaching that he gave there, largely in the temple. So here now, Leon would say there are three groupings of incidents and elements of teaching. There is Jesus in Jerusalem, uh, largely teaching in the temple. Then there is the story of the crucifixion, and finally the story of the resurrection and the ascension. Now, to group the matter of a gospel like that is, of course, very, uh, useful because it's easier to get it on your mind that way, isn't it? You know, you get the main elements of the gospel, and when you've got the main elements, you can more easily remember where to put the individual pieces in. Do you see? It's a very good thing simply from the practical point of view of committing gospels and things to memory, to have the big thing in your head, then you know where to slip s- slot in the smaller pieces. But at the same time, you will see that a a a an analysis like that, and all commentators do it, not only lists the contents of a book, but even analyzing like that is the first step into interpretation of the book. What goes with what? What the thought flow is? Where are the major sectionings? What, therefore, are the major topics? This is the first step in the path of interpreting a book. Now, most scholars will say that they offer this analysis, uh, but they're not going to be dogmatic for as many different scholars as they are, mostly there are as many different analyses of a book. I have my own, of course, and I frankly tell you now that while I hope, if need be, I would have the courage to go to the stake for the belief that, uh, the Luke's Gospel is inspired of God, I'm not sure I would go to the stake for the exactitude of my particular analysis, you'll see. If I were threatened with a stake for mine, I think I would adopt Leon Morris's or somebody else's. These are our attempts, aren't they? We're not inspired authors. These are our attempts to see what are the main topics in a book. But Leon is very helpful here in calling an atten- attention to what is a very significant thing in all four gospels. Here then we start from the, uh, basic fact that our Lord spent a great deal of his earthly ministry in Galilee rather than in Jerusalem. And the question immediately arises, why did he spend so long a time of his ministry up north in that comparatively remote part, uh, of the country in Galilee, instead of going down to Jerusalem and teaching there in the capital city? Why did he do that, is one question we can ask. Is there any particular significance, therefore, in that he spent so much time in, in Galilee? If you ask Matthew about these things, Matthew will, of course, tell you that he spent time in Galilee, and then he will comment on the significance of it. Here in Matthew chapter twenty four, for instance, it reads in ver- in Matthew four and verse twelve, it reads, now when he, that is our Lord, heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt to Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali toward the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, to to them did light spring up. In other words, Matthew is saying it was no accident our Lord spent so much of his ministry in Galilee. It was as the prophet originally had indicated it should be. It was the part of Israel that was nearest the Gentiles, the part that the rabbis would have thought was spiritually and morally rather dark. It was there that our Lord spent so much of his ministry. So much so that, according to John chapter seven, the authorities in Jerusalem mocked Nicodemus. When Mo- Nicodemus put in a very faint and a little bit cowardly, eh, plea that the Sanhedrin should listen to the Lord Jesus, the religious authorities turned on him and said, are you also of Galilee? You search and see that out of Nazareth, out of Galilee, arises no prophet, you'll see. So it was spiritually significant that our Lord Jesus spent so much time in Galilee. Now, if you ask Matthew about our Lord's eventual going to Jerusalem, over which Matthew, uh, Luke, uh, devotes so much of his gospel, the journey to Jerusalem, if you ask Matthew about that, he has very little to say. Look, if you care, to Matthew chapter nineteen. Matthew chapter nineteen verse one: and it came to pass when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee and came into the borders of Judea beyond Jordan, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there. That's, uh, two verses, and Matthew has, uh, uh, uh, covered the journey from Galilee down to Jerusalem. That is a very different emphasis from Luke, is it not, who devotes such a long passage from his chapter nine right through to nineteen to this journey from the north to the south. So obviously, in their record of Christ and the significance of his life, Luke and Matthew have a slightly different story to tell. John, likewise, is interested in these matters of our Lord's journeying. They take seriously, of course, the real humanity of Christ and the real geography and the places where he ministered and journeyed. Look what John does, however, in his account of the life of our Lord. A tremendous emphasis on the journeyings of Christ. There they are. In fact, there is a sense in which the whole of the Gospel of John is concerned with four journeys that our Lord Jesus made to Jerusalem and back again up north. Apart from that and what it involved, John has very little to tell us. You'll see he begins with his prologue and then the introduction, chapter one verse one to two twelve. And then you'll see at two thirteen begins the story of the first journey of our Lord to Jerusalem. The words are these, chapter two and verse, uh, thirteen. And incidentally, if you've got your Bible open at that stage, it's good to notice that John, like Luke, uses a literary device to divide one section of his work from another. For at two eleven— uh, two twelve, John says, after this, that is the miracle at Cana of Galilee, he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and there they abode not many days. And what they did, John doesn't tell us. This is by way of being one of those general remarks that an author will use to divide two parts of his work. Now comes the first journey, uh, verse thirteen: and the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and he found in the temple. So we're in the temple. And verse twenty three: now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed on his name, beholding the signs which he did. So don't forget he's in Jerusalem, will you? He stayed in Jerusalem and talked to Nicodemus, and at the end of that, verse twenty two of chapter three: and after these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with them and baptized. So he's left the capital city and gone out into the surrounds of Judea. Then, of course, in chapter four, uh, verse three, he left Judea and departed again into Galilee. Do you see? John is recording a journey and marking the different points in it, and he must needs go through Samaria. From Judea, he's on his way back north to Galilee and stays in the Samaritan town for two days, so we are eventually told. And then at four forty three, and after the two days he went forth from thence into Galilee. So now he's coming back. Verse forty five, so when he came into Galilee, you couldn't, not even if you were really dumb, you couldn't escape the, uh, the fact that John is telling you of a journey, do you see, and marking out the geographical points in it and so forth. Well, he came to Galilee, do you see, and there was this man at Capernaum, verse forty seven, who, when he had heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, how many more times are we going to be told? And then, you'll see, at the conclusion of that miracle, verse fifty four, this is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee. You got the point, didn't you? He's been on a journey to Jerusalem and then to Judea, and then he's worked his way back through Samaria, and now, if you please, he's come back to Galilee, you'll see, and done this miracle. Well, what next? Oh. Chapter five verse one: After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Yes, of course, this is a second journey. And in that manner, I shall not go through the detail, in that manner, John wants to tell you about four journeys that our Lord Jesus made from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem, and then back again north. You'll see. As I say, the Gospel of John can be so regarded as virtually little more than the account of four visits to Jerusalem and back again north. They were specially, uh, motivated. Each one of them was on the occasion of a Jewish religious festival centered on the temple in Jerusalem. Though they were all journeys, they were different in some respects. For instance, the third journey, uh, that begins in chapter seven, we're told in elaborate detail that our Lord refused to go up with any publicity surrounding him. He went in secret up to Jerusalem. And his brothers, who, uh, were not believers, you'll see, and they weren't proposing at that stage to become believers either, and they weren't much interested in religion, but they'd study, uh, studied, I suspect, PR relationships or something in their local college, and they had a lot of, uh, uh, good advice to give to this, their brother. They said, you know, if you're thinking about starting a new religion, it's no good staying up here in this one-eyed town of Nazareth, you see, where there's no one around much. You want to get down to Jerusalem, where at the feast, when there are thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe a hundred thousand or more, uh, visitors and pilgrims at the feast, and do some of your miraculous spectaculars, you see, and your disciples will, but that's the way to start a new religion, they suggested, you'll see. Not staying around here in this one-eyed show. No one seeketh him, doeth things in secret and himself wants to be ma- uh, known openly. It's a publicity problem. And when you think of that, you might think, oh, I speak reverently, but God has a publicity problem, hasn't he? Can you explain this matter? Ha. Well, I mean, can you answer John's, uh, Jesus' brothers, I mean? You believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Yeah? And God wanted the whole world to know? Yes? Well, you tell me why he sent him here such a short time then. What, only thirty three years? And of those thirty three years, thirty spent in obscurity, almost complete. Thought God wanted the world to know. And then his public ministry spent up in the north. I mean, why didn't he go down to Jerusalem a bit more? In fact, now you come to think about it, why didn't he, um, go around a tour of all the major cities, not just Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome, and, uh, London, if it had been made? See, God could do anything, couldn't he? And if you will think me not irreverent, please, why doesn't God still have it on lights in the sky? Jesus is the Son of God in every language in the world. Could do it, couldn't he? Why doesn't he? Can you as a Christian show your atheistic friend the wisdom of God's publicity program? The way God has gone about making himself known through Jesus Christ our Lord? Cool, that's a big topic, isn't it? But we mustn't talk about, uh, uh, John here. I was then going to say, uh, you'll see that this fourth, this third journey here, number four on the list, you'll see, that was done in deliberate secret obscurity. He went not with the pilgrims, he went after they'd gone, he went up in secret, says the evangelist. How different that fourth journey was. Because there our Lord himself orchestrated the most pub- uh, greatest publicity that he possibly could. Just before the time for the pilgrims to go up to Jerusalem, by the purpose of God, Lazarus fell sick and died, and he lived in a place called Bethany, not far off Jerusalem. And our Lord came in the deliberate purposes of God and raised him from the dead, and that caused an enormous interest, both in the surrounding village and in the pilgrims as they came down the northern road to the city and heard the news, and the pilgrims coming up from the south were told by the others of this man that Jesus had raised from the dead, and they stood in the city and they said, you think he'll come to the city? And some of them went out to meet him. The publicity was enormous. It had been orchestrated by Christ himself and by his father, of course. Interesting this, this matter of the journeys, therefore, i- in the different gospels, how they treat the actual geographical facts of our Lord's ministry and his movements in what we call the Holy Land. And it should become obvious to us that they are not merely, uh, uh, telling us the geographical details. They see significance in our Lord's ge- geographical journeyings in the course of his ministry. And incidentally, you'll see that last chapter there, uh, do you see, uh, the fourth journey. Bigger minds than mine and better qualified have often suggested that chapter twenty one was not original to John, and somebody else added it on later, subsequently, you'll see. That would be a little bit odd if that were true, wouldn't it? Because, well, all four journeys have that, uh, feature. A journey down to Jerusalem and then back towards the north again. And the last journey follows, as we have it, the same pattern, the journey down to Jerusalem, the cross, the resurrection, and finally back north to Galilee, the last, uh, chapter of, uh, John's Gospel, chapter twenty one. And of course, from the point of view of narrative, I wander a little, but I, I promise to be short on this, eh, from the point of view of narrative, chapter twenty one is absolutely essential to the story. For in chapter seventeen you have our blessed Lord praying to his father and pointing out to the father that all that have been given to him, he's lost not one of them. He's maintained them in their faith. The very next chapter has the story how Peter denied him uphill and down dale. And you say, but wait a minute, he's lost him, hasn't he? You can't have the book end without an answer to that question. And not even a novelist would have ended the book without an answer to that question. And this is inspired literature. Chapter twenty one is the story, and the only story in John, of how the Lord brought him back. And so our Lord's, uh, claim in his prayer was vindicated, of all that thou hast given me, I have lost not one. Well, there you are, that is John, and so we come back to this matter, uh, of Luke's account of the journey. What are we to make of it? It comes, as you see, uh, from chapter nine and verse fifty right up to chapter nineteen. m It has been a puzzle to scholars. Read the commentaries. Why all this long passage on the journey motif in the Gospel of Luke? Professor Howard Marshall points out in his admirable, work, his monograph on salvation in Luke, uh, the problems attached to it. The journey is marked from various stages. Look at nine fifty one. It Came to pass when the days were well nigh come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Then look at nine fifty seven. and as they went on their way, or as they went in the way, they were on a journey. Look at ten one. Now after these things, the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was about to come. He's on a journey and sends people on in advance to prepare the way so that people will have the chance to meet him when actually he comes through. Chapter ten thirty eight: Now, as they went on their way, he entered into a certain village. Chapter thirteen verse twenty two, You'll see. thirteen twenty two: And he went on his way through cities and villages, teaching and journeying on until Jerusalem. Seventeen eleven continues the story, and it came to pass as they were on the way to Jerusalem that he was passing through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Eighteen thirty one observes, and he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written by the prophet shall be accomplished unto the Son of Man. Then in nineteen eleven, as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear. Then verse twenty eight of nineteen, and when he had thus spoken, he went on before going up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass when he drew nigh unto Bethge and Bethany at the mount that is called the Mount of Olives, he did this and that. Verse forty one, and when he drew nigh, that is to the city, he saw the city and wept over it. And eventually, verse forty five, he entered in the- into the temple, that is he entered the city, he had arrived at Jerusalem. So Luke, through all these chapters, now and again reminds us of what he says at nine verse fifty, that our Lord set his face to go to Jerusalem. What is Luke's point, is the question, in spending so much time on this journey and putting there a lot of teaching, some that he shares with others and some which he alone has. Is the journey motive important, or is it just a geographical background without any particular significance. Scholars disagree, don't they? And where the scholars disagree, then the layman like me perhaps may be allowed to put in a tentative voice. I want to start from the observation that we should be careful to note what the goal of the journey was. It is so often said and commonly repeated that the journey was from Galilee to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the goal, and people picked that up from the verse fifty one, He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and thus they say the goal of the journey was Jerusalem. But surely the text is saying something else, isn't it? It came to pass when the days were nearly come for him to be received up. Those words are clear in their import. The receiving up was, of course, the ascension. He was received up in glory. The goal wasn't Jerusalem, thank God. Jerusalem was the most important stepping stone in the journey, but the goal of the journey, thank God, was that he should be received up, that is, received up into glory. And if that be true, then the journey takes on a far deeper than a geographical sense. For the Lord Jesus to become aware that the days were nearly fulfilled when he should return to glory. For this universe shaking event, that a son of Adam, as son of God, but son of God and son of Adam, that a human being should be received up into glory. Well, Michael the Archangel hasn't got over it yet. That was a novelty in that eternal realm. Never had it happened before. As the gates lift up their head and the King of Glory came in, why every angel and the archangels bowed their wings, didn't they? In awesome, awesome response. That one who had been made a little lower than the angels, as Hebrews two puts it, should now, as a human being, be received up in glory. And Jesus of Nazareth be invited to sit at the right hand of God. That's some journey. Started in Galilee, yeah. Oh, but look where it ended. Of course it had to go via Jerusalem. It is impossible that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem, as our Lord himself remarked. Of course it went through Jerusalem, where he died for us sinners, else we never could have ever accompanied him to that glorious station on high. Now this is the glorious, glorious gospel, that Christ not merely died for our sins that we might be forgiven, but as our forerunner, the captain of our salvation, our file leader, he walked from earth to glory, and at the end of that journey was received up into the very presence and throne of God. I want to suggest, therefore, problematic as may some of the details be, the fact of the journey is an integral part and an exceedingly important part of our Christian gospel. And therefore, to show what I conceive to be the importance of the structure of this gospel in getting across its basic gospel message, how that for the sake of our salvation, the second person of the Trinity was born in Bethlehem as a genuine human being, but that also the second part of the gospel is that for our salvation he traversed this earth and eventually was received up into glory. I, I put this, um, tiny little, uh, diagram for you, for your serious contemplation. The Gospel of Luke, its two halves. Dividing, as you see, uh, at nine, chapter fifty one. It came to pass, when the days were well nigh come that he should be received up, he steadfastly fa- set his face to go to Jerusalem. But if we come towards the beginning of the first half, chapter two, after the introduction about Zachariah and company to the actual birth of Christ. Christ was born, we are told, at the time when Joseph and Mary's names were to be enrolled in the citizen lists of Earth, of the Roman Empire. Once more, I'm aware that the experts have much searching of heart about this, uh, supposed enrollment and the, the reference to Quirinius and so forth. I haven't the expertise nor the time to discuss it. I'm taking Luke now at his face value. The reason why our Lord was, uh, born in Bethlehem was first because God said he would be born there, according to Micah chapter five. But uh in practicalities, it came about because the Roman emperor decided that he, for tax purposes, du- uh, doubtless, wanted the enrollment of the inhabitants of this country, and for that purpose they had to go back to their ancestral homes. And Mary and Joseph, who may not have been thinking about going to Bethlehem, particularly when Mary was so far pregnant and would prefer to stay at home for the birth of her firstborn child, were obliged to go to Bethlehem for the purpose of having their names enrolled in the census lists of the Roman Empire. So the story begins. And then, if this is the true structural division of the gospel, the last major incident in the first sense, uh, uh, uh, in the first half of the gospel is, of course, the Transfiguration, where taking his disciples up the mountain, the fashion of his face was changed before them, and they saw our blessed Lord in glory. They saw Moses and Elijah with him discussing his exodus that he must accomplish at Jerusalem, and awesome beyond description. When Peter made his faux pas and suggested that they should make three tabernacles, one equally for each person. There came a cloud and a voice from the cloud that Peter and company instinctively realized whose voice it was. This cloud was none less than the shekinah glory of God Almighty. And says Peter, this is not a myth, I tell you, when subsequently he wrote in two Peter chapter three— we were eye- uh, two Peter chapter one, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty, and we heard such a voice come to him. This is my beloved son, hear you him. Oh, what a magnificent climax to that first section of the gospel, from the lowly manger of Bethlehem to the glory of the Transfiguration Mount. But then look, if you care to, at the second half of the book. And you haven't gone far into its chapters, if it begins at nine fifty one, but what you come to ten twenty, and here are the disciples. They've come back from a certain mission of theirs, and they're excited like, uh, disciples and even, uh, grave apostles are liable to get. And, uh, they were telling the Lord with great glee, Lord, even the demons are subject to, to us in your name. And he smiled and calmed them down a little and said, well, that's good, but in that rejoice not. Well, not so much as this other thing. Rejoice in this. And your names are enrolled in heaven, in the citizen lists of heaven. All my brothers and sisters, I know it is utterly simple, and you've thought about it with every Christmas card that ever you received. Do you not feel its power? His parents' names to be enrolled, his family name to be enrolled in the citizen lists of Earth for our sake and our salvation. Born in a manger, he came to our world with that sublime purpose that through his redemption as our file leader and captain of our salvation, he himself would go to glory as our forerunner and one day bring us there. And wonder of wonders, we are not left in uncertainty. Our Lord already informs them that their names are enrolled in heaven. Marvelous, isn't it? It is a great cause for rejoicing above all else. Think of what we heard this morning. Oh, what a wonder to know as we sit here and as age increases and we come nearer to the end of our journey here through Earth, that already are we enrolled in that great eternal city, inhabitants of eternity. Yeah. Oh, well, of course, yes. And that's how, if that's how the second half begins, look at the last half. Well, of course, that is the great climax, isn't it? And you will notice Luke's sense of proportion in his gospel as he comes to tell you about our blessed Lord's eh eh ascension, uh, to heaven. If you only ha- had Luke's gospel and none of the other gospels, and you didn't have his Acts of Apostles either, you might well suppose that our Lord went back to heaven on the first day he ascended, because on the first day of the week he met the, the, uh, believers in the upper room, and there he comforted and encouraged them, there he ate with them, there he expounded scripture to them, and then he commissioned them that they were to be his witness from Jerusalem and take the gospel to the ends of the earth. And when he had said these things, he led them out, says Luke, as far as Bethany, and as he raised his hands in blessing, he was taken up from them into heaven. You say, where are the forty days then? Thought he was with them forty more days. Well, so he was. And Luke hasn't forgotten that, for when he writes his Acts of the Apostles, he, uh, puts it in that our Lord was with them for forty days, coming and coming until the great and final event on the fortieth day, when now he wa- he ascended to heaven and was gone for the last time for this century, and his visits in that physical sense ceased. Luke knows about the forty days. He tells us more about it than anybody else. But for his gospel's sake, and for the point he's making, the cross and the resurrection are followed immediately there. There's no time to tell you of the forty days. His heart is set on telling you of the great end of the journey. The time had now actually come for him to be received up, and that was the goal of the journey. Let nothing come in between to rob us of the sense that the goal has been achieved. That is what I'm going to suggest to you in these coming lectures, that that is the basic structure of the book. And I trust I said enough to show you that if that is the structure of the book, it's not a question of making structures for the sake of making structures or being clever with our analyses. If this is right, this is an integral part, it is a major part of the very gospel that Luke was wanting to preach. And all that I say, of course, with due respect for those better Bible expositors than I who would take a slight, somewhat different analysis. The fact is they could be right. But until they prove it, and you know. Finally, if that is so, and there are two halves to this gospel because of what its actual basic gospel message is, uh, then I shall be suggesting that in the first half, there are five, what I have called stages, call them what you like, main groupings of stories. And that when we consider what their major emphases are, we shall see that they likewise are not a haphazard arrangement of stories. They are so, uh, selected and compiled and grouped that they give us a logical progression of teaching. The first major group we did last night, didn't we? The arrival of the Son of God. And for those of you who weren't there last night, just let me put on here a table of contents that we looked at last night and shan't have time to look at again. There are ten stories in the first part, and here I have the tremendous support of Leon Morris, you see, the coward in me wants to keep quoting him. Eh, uh, ten stories, they're grouped by timetable. As you see, the small print is all about timetable. They are about the Nativity, Five stories related to the time before Christ was born, and five stories relating to his birth and what followed up to the time when our Lord was ten years, uh, twelve years old in the temple. And then, of course, Luke tells you nothing of the following eighteen years, where until you come to the second great theme, which is the introduction of the Son of God, the preparation for his ministry, and then his actual ministry, the beginning of his ministry. And there too, Master Morris agree, uh, uh, uh, agrees, you'll see. This is the beginning of our Lord's ministry. And then there follows a section, chapters, uh, five and six, that I have entitled Christ's Way with Sin and Sinners. It is the section that, uh, uh, contains his moral teaching, his equivalent in Luke of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. If you do this and that and the other, if you greet them that love you, what the thank have you, even sinners do the same, and so forth and so on. Our Lord's moral teaching, but not only his moral teaching, but select examples of what Christ could actually do with sinners. So at the beginning of chapter five, there are three uh, incidents quoted, three examples of what Christ was able to do with sinners and how he transformed them. So chapters fi- uh, five and six to do with Christ's way with sin and sinners. Then, as we saw in detail these last days, seven and eight, Christ's way of salvation. Hence, notice the sense of the logic of it. First, the diagnosis of the need, Christ's way with sinners and what he could do for them, and his moral teaching. Then examples of his salvation of individual people. And is there anything further from the salvation of individuals? Well, yes, of course. For in section five, we shall see his teaching about the setting up of the kingdom of God, not just the salvation of individuals, but his setting up of his worldwide messianic kingdom. Thus my lecture is ended this afternoon. Forgive the boredom and the tedium of having to do a lot of, uh, detailed observations. But that, as I conceive of it myself, is the structure of the Gospel of Luke. The structure is not there simply as a, a little literary device to show how clever the commentators are. It is an integral part of the gospel message. You can preach the structure, that is, you don't need to tell Mrs. Mops that the structure is there, but you can teach it. You can say our Lord was born in Bethlehem, you know, how marvelous that the second person of the Trinity should become human and actually be born, uh, o- o- of a parent, uh, uh, and be laid in a manger at Bethlehem at the time when his parents were having their names enrolled in the citizen list. And the wonder of it is that he came to earth to save us and died for us, and now has gone back to heaven, not solitary and alone, but as the captain of salvation to lead us there ourselves. That was the end of his journey. That is the goal of our journey too through life. And praise God, before we get there, we can be utterly sure because we have it from his lips that our names are written in heaven. What a gospel message that is. Agree with the structure, disagree with the structure, the fact remains, and it is a glorious fact. Shall we pray. Our Father, we thank thee for giving Luke, thy servant, the wisdom to write as he has done. But our hearts leap within us, not at his literary achievement, but at the glorious gospel that he thereby delineates and unfolds. Oh, how we bless thee for the hope that springs in our breasts, real, solidly based hope for the reality that the Word was made flesh, really flesh, that thy Son is indeed not only Son of God, but one of us, a true human. We bless thee that in all things he was made like unto the children who are partakers of flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death and deliver us who through fear of death, were all our lifetimes subject to bondage. We bless thee that he is risen. Thou has given him the keys to unlock death and Hades, and we too feel like John felt his strong right hand on our shoulders, saying, fear not, stand therefore. We bless thee for the hope, unfading and clear, that as sure as he has entered into thy presence and inaugurated for us this new and living way, so in spirit have we access to thee already, and one day we shall be bodily in thy presence, made like unto him and in body like his glorious body, and our spirits conform to him in all details. We praise thee for the wonder of it. Fill our hearts with it this week, we pray, so that as we leave, if it so please thee, our hearts may burst and overflow to bring this message to the millions who sit around us without God and without Christ and without hope. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, thy son. Amen.